Palaeolithic inferior
In the middle of the 19th century, one discovers in the careers
of Saint-Acheul in the “Somme” region (north of France) a very
important series of cut flints. From 1860 to 1880, there are nearly 20
000 flint tools which are collected.
Saint-Acheul becomes the site characterizing a type of culture of the
old paleolithic with the flints cut on the two faces: the Acheulean
culture.
This period is associated to an old kind of man: Homo erectus. This man
will leave Africa to colonize the whole of Eurasia. This period will
extend from 1,2 million years at 300 000 years before our age.
In Brittany, theses are generally isolated tools which inform us about
the presence of men of Acheulean. Parallel to this industry
characterized by the double-side, the culture develops tools consisted
of rollers that some removals made sharp: choppers and chopping-tools.
The site of Saint Malo de Phily located near a river would come from -
600 000 years. The tools coarse are in quartzose sandstone.
The excavations of the site of Menez-Dregan revealed the traces of the
oldest hearth known in Europe. Homo erectus was installed in this cave
between -500 000 and -300 000 years, made fire and cut its tools there.
It is more than 25 000 tools which were discovered.
It is at the beginning of the Eighties that the type of industry,
characterized by tools with edge arranged on rollers and accompanied by
tools lighter but rough, appears from the excavation of the site of
saint-Colomban à Carnac. The site is gone back to -300 000
years. Various layers of this culture were recognized in the south of
Brittany. It is defined under the name of "Colombanien".
The evolution of the tools of the old paleolithic is slow, Homo erectus
does not have obviously the capacities enabling him to evolve. Soon it
will be supplanted by another man from Africa. This one will preserve a
part of the culture of H. erectus, but the tools will be specialized
and a new age will begin with the arrival of Homo neanderthalensis.
